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Multiplication by a positive number preserves the order: For a > 0, if b > c, then ab > ac. Multiplication by a negative number reverses the order: For a < 0, if b > c, then ab < ac. The complex numbers do not have an ordering that is compatible with both addition and multiplication. [30]
In arbitrary-precision arithmetic, it is common to use long multiplication with the base set to 2 w, where w is the number of bits in a word, for multiplying relatively small numbers. To multiply two numbers with n digits using this method, one needs about n 2 operations.
In mathematics, a product is the result of multiplication, or an expression that identifies objects (numbers or variables) to be multiplied, called factors.For example, 21 is the product of 3 and 7 (the result of multiplication), and (+) is the product of and (+) (indicating that the two factors should be multiplied together).
The numbers being multiplied are multiplicands, multipliers, or factors. Multiplication can be expressed as "five times three equals fifteen", "five times three is fifteen" or "fifteen is the product of five and three". Multiplication is represented using the multiplication sign (×), the asterisk (*), parentheses (), or a dot (⋅).
A common technique for multiplication with larger numbers is called long multiplication. This method starts by writing the multiplier above the multiplicand. The calculation begins by multiplying the multiplier only with the rightmost digit of the multiplicand and writing the result below, starting in the rightmost column.
In 493 AD, Victorius of Aquitaine wrote a 98-column multiplication table which gave (in Roman numerals) the product of every number from 2 to 50 times and the rows were "a list of numbers starting with one thousand, descending by hundreds to one hundred, then descending by tens to ten, then by ones to one, and then the fractions down to 1/144." [6]
The standard procedure for multiplication of two n-digit numbers requires a number of elementary operations proportional to , or () in big-O notation. Andrey Kolmogorov conjectured that the traditional algorithm was asymptotically optimal, meaning that any algorithm for that task would require () elementary operations.
A multiplication by a negative number can be seen as a change of direction of the vector of magnitude equal to the absolute value of the product of the factors. When multiplying numbers, the magnitude of the product is always just the product of the two magnitudes. The sign of the product is determined by the following rules: